Virologists at Duke University Medical Center have discovered that, under the right conditions, a common cold virus closely related to poliovirus can cause polio in mice.

The researchers injected a cold virus called Coxsackievirus A21 into mice that were engineered to be susceptible to this particular virus. However, instead of developing a cold, the mice unexpectedly displayed paralytic symptoms characteristic of polio. The researchers determined that administering the virus dir

Researchers in Sweden and the United States have publicly released a new database of many of the most important genes in a tree genome. This collection of genes, which includes a large proportion of those expressed during tree growth, is among the best for any plant species.

“This is an important fundamental step towards doing the type of genetic and biotechnology research with trees that we’ve been able to do with only the most scientifically well-known plants,” said Steven Stra

New research has shown, using human tissue biopsies – a hypothesis that until now could only be argued indirectly using cell cultures – that the significant increase in genomic “disorder” that is associated with breast cancer occurs in the transition between the typical hyperplasia and the in situ carcinoma, coinciding with a reduction to a critical minimum in the cell chromosome terminations (known as telomeres). This process of critical reduction, occurring due to the accumulation of cell divis

Brothers and sisters as well as parents of infants born with severe, life-threatening abnormalities of the left side of the heart should be screened for less severe, but related, heart problems, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston.

In a new study in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics, Drs. Jeffrey Towbin, BCM professor of pediatrics at BCM, and John Belmont, BCM professor of molecular and human genetics, found that these first degree relatives

The findings of Finnish scientists with their multinational collaborators shed light to the mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease and early menopause.

Parkinson’s disease affects about 2% of the general population. It is caused by death of such nerve cells that utilize dopamine in their function, located in the brain nucleus called substantia nigra, black matter. The degeneration of these cells leads to for example slow movements, and rigidity. The disease is multifactorial, meaning that

New research being presented at a conference opening in London today (Monday 6 September) shows that harmful environmental agents can cross the placenta to reach the developing foetus.

The incidence of childhood leukaemia in Britain has increased dramatically during the last century. This increase has mainly affected the under five age group, in whom the risk increased by more than 50 per cent in the second half of the century alone.

The causes of leukaemia in children a

Honey could be the new antibiotic, according to scientific research from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC) presented Monday, 06 September 2004 at the Society for General Microbiology’s 155th Meeting at Trinity College Dublin.

By studying the way bacteria protect themselves from attack by forming slimy clumps, scientists have discovered that honey may be an effective new weapon in breaking up the microbes’ defences. The researchers from the School of Applied Sciences a

A “planned-care method” of providing primary care for children with asthma can significantly reduce symptoms and need for emergency medications, according to a study published in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Much of the asthma care in the United States is based on visiting the doctor when a child is having asthma symptoms. The method, devised by Kevin Weiss, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Center for Healthcare Studies at

Doctors across the United States are mostly in favor of a recommendation to vaccinate healthy infants and toddlers against the flu, but they are concerned about costs, parental vaccine fears, and how to let families know about the flu vaccine recommendations, according to a University of Rochester survey.

The 2003-2004 flu season, with its highly publicized deaths of several children and reports of vaccine shortages, drew the issue of flu shots for children into the national spotlig

Treating patients with a drug called aprotinin reduces the risk of stroke by 47 percent in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, according to a study published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

The study, a large-scale analysis evaluating data from 35 CABG studies, determined that use of aprotinin reduced the need for a blood transfusion by 39 percent. Blood transfusions during CABG surgery have been associated with an increased risk

Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are frequently misdiagnosed or remain undiagnosed, and may therefore be missing out on appropriate treatment, according to the results of a primary care study presented today at the annual European Respiratory Society (ERS) meeting in Glasgow, Scotland.1

COPD is a progressive respiratory disease that causes significant deterioration of lung function and chronic breathlessness that can lead to severe disability.2 Limited air

Phico Therapeutics Ltd, a Cambridge-based company that has developed a unique anti-bacterial technology to treat the hospital superbug, MRSA, has raised £550,000 with the help of Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network (OION), Europe’s leading technology business angel network. Phico’s anti-bacterial technology, known as SASPject, is effective against all bacteria but can uniquely be targeted to destroy only harmful bacteria while leaving “good” skin and gut bacteria intact. The funding will

VeraChem LLC founders Drs. Michael Gilson, Michael Potter, and Hillary Gilson, using UMBI licensed intellectual property, are creating scientific software that provides expert users with tools for computer-aided drug discovery and molecular design. VeraChem’s recent first sale, a pre-release version of Vconf, is followed by the projected launch on September 8 of Vcharge, a new software product for computing molecular properties important in drug design. The official launch of Vconf is expected to f

The advances in treating childhood leukaemia over the last forty years have been one of cancer’s outstanding success stories – but the fall in mortality has diverted attention from a rise in incidence, a London conference will hear today (Monday 6 September).

“The marked disparity between incidence and mortality trends crystallises the problem posed by childhood leukaemia from a public health standpoint: we have become steadily better at treating it – at least in the sense of preve

A research group at the Babraham Institute has found that the sight of a friendly face can reduce stress in sheep. This discovery, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, could point to the reason that many of us carry pictures of loved ones in our wallets or handbags.

The scientists, led by Professor Keith Kendrick, put sheep into a darkened barn on their own and showed them various faces, while recording their behaviour. Stress was measured

Virologists from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven) in Belgium report that chloroquine, a widely used antimalarial drug, exhibits antiviral activity against the SARS coronavirus. Chloroquine is an inexpensive and safe drug available worldwide.

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is a respiratory illness which was first recognized in the winter of 2002 in China. By the end of June, 2003, the disease had affected over 8096 persons in 30 countries across five continent